Philip Kirby says he first used heroin during a stint in a halfway house a few years ago, when he was 21 years old. He quickly formed a habit.
"You can't really dabble in it," he says.
Late last year, Kirby was driving with drugs and a syringe in his car when he got pulled over. He went to jail for a few months on a separate charge before entering a drug court program in Hamilton County, Ind., north of Indianapolis. But before Kirby started, he says the court pressured him to get a shot of a drug called Vivitrol.
Vivitrol is a monthly injection of naltrexone, which blocks opioid receptors in the brain. It's one of three medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating opioid addiction. While it's effective in some people, it's not for everyone. Patients have to be ready to be opioid-free, and some patients won't do well on it. It can also have side effects, which Kirby says he experienced.